IT’S SOMETIMES OK TO COPY:

Traffic fines mounting

This story makes one wonder how stupid Authorities in Jamaica really are . I urge subscribers to these blogs to read this story which appeared in the Jamaica Observer , link is supplied above.

Errant motorists have paid more than half-billion dollars in punitive traffic fines over the past three years, as authorities fought a seemingly losing battle against indiscipline on Jamaican roads. St James pulled in the lion’s share of traffic fines outside the Corporate Area, with approximately $22 million in 2010 alone. Motorists paid approximately $84 million in traffic fines to the Corporate Area Traffic Court over the same period. But according to a well-placed Auto source, despite this hefty pay, an even larger amount, estimated to be $2.2 billion still remain uncollected. Data from the Ministry of Justice, released for the first time through the Access to Information Act, show that in 2008, tax collectorates across the island along with the Kingston Traffic Court raked in $156 million in fines for traffic offences. In 2009, collections jumped to $181 million, and last year traffic fines contributed $224 million to government coffers.

Meanwhile, the reluctance of wayward motorists in paying traffic fines is one factor to be addressed in the new Road Traffic Act, executive director of the National Road Safety Council Paula Fletcher told Auto this week.

It is hard for police to find people who did not attend Court, there is too much onus on the state to find people,” she suggested.

At the same time, Fletcher advocated that interest be charged on outstanding traffic fines as a further deterrent.

“These are the procedures to be worked,” she told Auto, “I would also love to see people pay an interest for outstanding fines,” said the NRSC executive director.

One would reasonably conclude that since Jamaican authorities are incapable of coming up with workable solutions , they would at least be able to copy.

During my time in Elementary/ Primary school I had class-mates whom were just incapable of learning , back then we just assumed they were dunce , plain and simple. No one knew what to do with those students , so it was accepted they would exit school much the same way they entered, and to a large extent most did. Today schools do a little better job in identifying students whom are having problems , and impliment strategies in an effort to bring those students up to performing at their grade level. They are no longer reffered to as dunce, they are called learning challenged or learning disabled.

One thing about those learning disabled classmates, they understood one concept, the ability to copy. sometimes they plagarized their clasmate’s name in the process, but copy they did .

The issue here is this, we know lawmakers in Jamaica are dunce, but even dunce students are able to plagarize. How difficult is it to copy from those who figured it out ? others have figured out how to properly streamline traffic fines, into drivers licencing and every other aspects of doing bussiness? Jamaica has an approximate 2.8 million people yet lawmakers are unable to copy the system being used in most developed and developing countries . How can anyone respect these dopes ? when they are unable to come up with something that is not re-inventing the wheel, something that is being used everywhere else , how difficult is it to plagarize?

The Police are out there doing what they are supposed to do in ticketing offenders. However as I have said before, the work of the police is being undermined and subverted by dunce politicians in Jamaica. The evidence is clear , they are able to collect only one quarter of the fines, in a country small enough to fit into the State of Connecticut , with a total population, one quarter that of New York City.

This is a serious indictment on the abilities of those tasked with taking care of the people’s bussiness. Every year, hundreds of Jamaicans are killed on the roads in fatal crashes. Crashes that could have been avoided if the rules of the roads were being observed. No one is saying that laws will stop offenders from speeding, driving drunk,or operating contrary to the rules of the road . What we are saying is , untill we can find a panacea, we have to copy legislation from other countries,. seeing that we are too dunce to figure out on our own what works.

As I have maintained in previous blog posts, Legislative leadership must precede Police action. Police cannot enforce laws that do not exist. Police may work overtime to apprehend criminals and offenders but if the penalties are not commensurate with the crimes, and the fines, and consequencies commensurate with the offences then as is demonstrated in this report 75% of the police’s effort is wasted.

Politicians have long scape-goated our police department, setting them up to fail, pitting police against the communities they serve. The police department has been understaffed , under supported, under equipped, under paid, and under trained since it’s inception. The afermentioned set of circumstances creates a perfect storm , a potent mix for failure and inability to deliver on their mandate. Such is the position in which the Jamaica Constabulary’ force finds itself . You will never hear this assesment from the lackeys at the top of the JCF . Most of whom , for the most part are too heavily invested in ass kissing and subservience , they are incapable of making principled decisions.

I have never met the Federation’s chairman, it does seem however, that he has a grasp of what’s at stake, and says so in no uncertain terms.

Those who are predisposed to disagreeing with this view, need look no further than the high attrition rate in The JCF , particularly at a time when jobs are hard to come by . I would implore that Agency to release the number of officers that have demitted that agency within the last twenty years , that number would shock most.

I seek to highlight the truth to objective observers, facts you will not hear from the police, most of whom are too scared of their unscrupulous ego-maniacal civillian bosses in Government/ opposition, you won’t hear it from the criminal lawyers, or those who say they are in the business of human rights, I seek to show the truth . You decide.